Chasing hormones may have short term benefit but without addressing WHY they are imbalanced in the first place will leave you frustrated in the long term.
Subtleties of Science – Video
Data can’t be disputed. But what can be argued over is how that data is interpreted. How does a 1% drug effectiveness turn into a 50% reduction in heart attacks? How does a 2% vaccine effectiveness turn into a 47% reduction in deaths?
Double Diabetes
A few weeks back I had posted a picture of the infamous Unicorn Frappuccino. It was an image that equated the sugar load of the beverage with eating 3 Snicker’s bars. I made the comment ‘that if you’re as excited about this drink, then you should be as excited about diabetes.’
What ensued was a firestorm that I could have never predicted. I was getting hammered for perpetuating the notion that sugar causes diabetes and the shaming police were flicking on sirens and showing their lights all over the place. I was being accused of perpetuation a stigma, disease shaming, and diet shaming.
And it wasn’t coming from anyone with type 2 diabetes but those moms and loved ones of people with type 1 diabetes. The momma bears were in full force and after I let the dust settle, I understand why. They are constantly having to explain and defend that their child’s condition isn’t from bad parenting nor chronic, reckless, lifestyle decisions.
Raising 3 boys with my wife, I know a mom will blame herself for anything that isn’t favorable, even if it’s out of her control. But where my point was being missed was that even though something isn’t your fault, it’s still your responsibility. And even if your child has type 1 diabetes, that child will have better outcomes by avoiding the things that contribute to type 2 diabetes…specifically a high sugar diet.
Regardless of the presentation of Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes, there’s a common theme, the regulation and utilization of insulin. One doesn’t produce insulin, the other, the cells don’t listen to insulin well.
In either scenario, the less need for insulin, the better the outcomes. If you consume the unicorn, regardless of endogenous insulin production or exogenous insulin injection, the high sugar load calls for a higher insulin need.
What I want to make clear is that even with type 1 diabetes, this doesn’t mean someone cannot develop type 2 diabetes simultaneously. Insulin is essential to the body for many reasons. But too much insulin becomes annoying to the cells, and the cells can start to ignore the signal, no matter if you’re type 1.
This means that for a type 1 diabetic, not only can you provide better health outcomes by limiting foods that require a high insulin response (grains, legumes, juices, sugar, etc), you can save some money by not needed as much insulin to combat those high glycemic foods.
I know for those moms with a type 1 diabetic kid, you want to provide what you can since they have started life with some extra challenges. But I challenge the notion that even though the type 1 diabetes was not your fault, that creating a low glycemic diet with time restricted eating will benefit the ups and downs of sugar spikes and insulin needs. So yes, that does mean limiting grains, juices, and everything that is the Standard American Diet. Yes, that probably does mean trying the total opposite nutrition advice of your dietician, pediatrician, and USDA sponsored eating plan.
But I also know that I get discredited because I don’t have the right initials after my name or the specialty after my name. But here’s someone that does. Take a look at his lectures, his documentary, his book, and take that information in the context of the insulin demand, not if insulin is coming from internal administration or from injection administration.
And to the woman/women that automatically assume I’m trying to sell something with my anti-sugar message, the only thing I’m trying to sell is creating a life culture of creating more health and needing less healthcare. It’s no surprise that healthcare is expensive. 86% off our healthcare costs are from chronic illness. If we want to have better health outcomes, then we have to stop arguing over who is going to pay for healthcare and instead ask what are we paying for? I said this with Obama, I will say this with Trump. I didn’t say no healthcare and I didn’t say perfect health. But if you haven’t realized it yet, the more we grant access of emergency interventions to treat chronic illness, the worst outcomes we have.
If the outcome is to create health then we have to question the health practices that have been drilled into our heads that have left us with ever increasing chronic illness. Not sure where to start? You know how to find me.
Arthritis: The 3 ‘I’s’ of Abnormal Joints and Bones Your Rheumatologist Fails to Mention
Arthritis can be debilitating. In fact, arthritis and rheumatoid conditions are the leading cause of disability among US adults for the past 15 years. So when your doctor is assessing your spine and joints and makes mention of ‘normal degenerative changes,’ that should be a clue to find another doctor.
There’s nothing normal about arthritis and join degeneration. For your body to be in an active destruction of a joint, especially when not trauma induced, there’s a whole mess of ‘not normal’ going on.
The major problem with traditional healthcare is that they see the arthritic changes and resultant pain as the problem. I would argue they are the effect of many other processes in your body giving you a repeated fighting chance of survival and a breaking point happens. But for 98% of us, it’s not random chance and we’re not part of the unlucky club.
There are 3 ‘I’s’ that your primary or rheumatologist fail to address when assessing and treating arthritis. Actually, they talk a lot about one of them, but their solutions actually cause more imbalance and worsen the condition long term.
Intestinal Permeability:
Your rheumatologist may compartmentalize your gut as just a function of digestion. And if that’s the case, find a new doctor. The point being is that your gut is one of your first line of defenses in your immune expression. This is mediated through an expression of one of your immunoglobulins, SIgA (Secretor IgA).
Obesity: A Sign of Extreme Intelligence but a Monster Ego
This post is for all those fatties out there. You know who I’m talking about…fatty, fatty, fat, fat. Yeah, I called you fat, look at me I’m skinny. Never stopped me from getting…slapped in the face. Before you turn this off or post negative comments, hear me out for 3 seconds.
Being fat is a sign of extreme, high-level intelligence. Yes, that’s right. When you are assessing that booty and belly shake in the mirror, don’t think disgusting. Think Einstein, Hawking, or even Dwight K. Schrute.
Being fat is a sign of extreme, high-level intelligence. Click To TweetYour body NEVER does stupid stuff. It always gives you the absolute best chance of surviving the next 30 seconds, even if it’s at the expense of your next 30 years.
Why would the body take excess energy substrate and convert it to fat? Because it’s the preferred fuel for your brain and body to operate. Animals that go into hibernation are living off their fat stores. Humans don’t hibernate but there is (or was) a great possibility that we would go without food for a lengthy time.
Why I Recommend CrossFit to My Clients: The 5 UnExpected Benefits That Will Change Your Life
I admit it, I consider myself a CrossFit junkie…or maybe I’m just a giant poser. I drank the Kool-Aid about 3 1/2 years ago and haven’t stopped. Before I go to bed each night, I prepare my gym bag, my workout clothes, fill up my water bottle, gather the supplements I take in the morning, and look for the workout that I will be attempting the next morning.
Over the past 3 1/2 years, I have noticed drastic changes in my strength, endurance, body composition, and the ability to run flat out for 1/2 a mile before my hands start shaking whenever my dog escapes the house. With 3 boys, ages 5 and under, the front door to my house routinely gets left open.
My internal dialogue has changed considerably as well. It went from, “I’m not doing that,” to “I don’t think I can do that,” to “I don’t want to do that but I’ll try.” That’s the moment you know you’re hooked.
But it’s not for these fitness reasons that I encourage my clients and my kids as they get older, to step into a CrossFit box. Here are 5 unexpected benefits I have learned and experienced in my 3 1/2 year journey that encourage me to recommend this routine to almost all my clients.
Forced to Focus
CrossFit is defined as ‘constantly varied functional movements performed at high intensity.’ What does this mean? It means you can’t multi task while working out. There’s one objective in front of you and until you complete that task, you don’t get to move on. There’s no breath for chit chat while the workout is happening, there’s no time to check your phone during the WOD, and there’s no possible way your ear buds are going to stay in place.
A huge problem I see with chronic health problems and the road blocks faced, is that the person hasn’t been focused. During a CrossFit workout, you always have at least one coach keeping an eye on you, you have other members in the class tracking your progress and encouraging you, and you have a set rep scheme or time frame that you need to complete the routine. You are forced to focus.
Heart Disease: Why We Should Rename Heart Disease to ‘Overloaded Liver Syndrome.’
This is more of a ‘random thoughts’ post. It’s not lengthy, but hopefully one to get you thinking a bit differently about heart disease and a way to improve your risk assessment, if not for you, for a loved one.
Why do we call heart dis
ease, ‘heart disease?’ We don’t call a car accident, ‘excessive tire tracking.’ Imagine if we did treat a car accident like we do heart disease. Yes, there is an immediate need at the scene to make sure everyone is safe and traffic doesn’t get too backed up but then an investigation happens looking at the series of events that lead to ‘excessive tire tracking.’
There could be texting, speed, substance abuse, deer, or a faulty traffic light. But policy isn’t made regarding the effect of the accident, the presence of tire tracks. Policy is made to reduce the root causes of the accident.
With heart disease, the standard of care is to label the scene of the accident, call that the cause, and design national campaigns and policy regarding that finding. You have high blood pressure. You have clogged arteries. You have thick blood. You should be screened.
Yet, we ignore the tell tale signs that a heart event is on the horizon. We know things like inflammation and insulin resistance are major risk factors affecting the heart. But those are rarely quantified until after the heart event has hit.
Our healthcare system lacks the investigation. And the more we try and boost heart health and early detection of heart problems, the more heart disease rises. This happens for every diagnosis. Cancer is an effect. Diabetes is an effect. Arthritis is an effect. Yes, the current health expression may need immediate attention but that treatment doesn’t ever work to create health. So I’m proposing we change the name of heart disease to something like ‘liver overload syndrome.’
Childhood and AutoImmune Expression: How Your Current Immune Overload Could Stem From Childhood Trauma
A trend that I have noticed on my intake forms from new clients over the past 4-6 months is that there are 2 questions answered that breaks my heart. Both are yes/no questions.
Question #1: Did you feel safe growing up?
Question #2: Have you ever been abused?
I can say more often than not, I have seen more ‘Noes’ when asked if they felt safe growing up and I have seen more ‘Yeses’ when asked if they have ever been abused. And a common ailment in those answers are autoimmune conditions. Is there a direct correlation? I wouldn’t rule it out but that’s just based on my observation.
I’ve had conversations about this with colleagues as well as I’ve talked about these similarities in my workshops. But what I didn’t know, is that my speculation has already been quantified.
I was recently introduced to the ACE study. I hadn’t heard of it but as it was described, I had to go find it. The ACE Study (Adverse Childhood Experiences) was conducted between 1995-1997 and eligible for follow up through 2005. ACEs included childhood physical, emotional, or sexual abuse; witnessing domestic violence; growing up with household substance abuse, mental illness, parental divorce, and/or an incarcerated household member.
In an autoimmune analysis based on those results, the outcome was hospitalizations for any of 21 selected autoimmune diseases and 4 immunopathology groupings. 64% reported at least one ACE. First hospitalizations for any autoimmune disease increased with increasing number of ACEs. Compared with persons with no ACEs, persons with >or=2 ACEs were at a 100% increased risk for rheumatic diseases.
MIND. BLOWN.
You Don’t Have Adrenal Fatigue | Stop Making Your Identity a Catch Phrase
For those that aren’t familiar with the adrenal glands, they have huge function in your health expression. Every second of your day, your nervous system has to organize and coordinate your life experiences: What you eat, how you think, how you move, wind changes, social influences, spiritual experiences, and congruency in purpose and practices.
With every single item, within microseconds, your nervous system has to decide if these particular influences will cause you harm or cause you happiness. More often than not, your nervous system will be cautious and engage functions that shift you into immediate survival and protection. The first set of organs that your nervous system talks to are your adrenals.
There are two major hormone groups (but many more) that the adrenals release to help you adapt when life throws curve balls at you. One group is the catecholamines (adrenaline, epinephrine, norepinephrine, etc) that primarily work on functions of heart rate, blood pressure, muscle contraction, and triggering your brain for reaction over reason. The other class is cortisol that primarily works to get your body to release stored energy (sugar) to give you instant fuel to escape a potential danger.
The longer someone is in the this state of protection, the more the body creates a default setting into that expression. And the longer than is expressed, the more apt you favor catabolism (tissue destruction). This sounds bad but no reaction or symptom is stupid. These expressions are creating pathways for you to buy time to escape what is potentially life threatening. The more this reaction is repeated, the harder it is to keep up with the demands. It’s like if you sprinted instead of walked to do everything. You’re going to get tired.
Tired ≠ Fatigue
Genetic Pet Peeves
I have a number of pet peeves. For those that know me really well, you know I can go from zero to maximum irritability in 0.2 seconds when I see random shopping carts in a major retail parking lot. If I see you NOT put it away, even though the cart return is only 3 spaces away from your car, I’m ready to punch a hole in your car. I’m considering creating a personality assessment and job interview process centered around your shopping cart etiquette. If you can’t push a Costco cart without walking half bent over, leaning on the cart, you’re not even getting an interview.
For the sake of this post, your shopping cart habits are none of my business…unless you don’t put it away. But a more pertinent pet peeve of mine are the analogies surrounding genetics. I’m sure you’ve heard them and you thought they were clever and didn’t even question them. Hopefully these become pet peeves of yours as well.
Your DNA is NOT a Loaded Gun
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